Hip Hop Appreciation 105: The Rise of Nelly

Nelly's Country Grammar came out in 2000. Rap had definitely experienced some major transformations in the years between the infancy of Gangsta and the mainsteam acceptance of the genre. The 90's were a pretty rough time for rappers in a very real sense. The biggest stars of the day found themselves literally in the crossfire of violent rivalries that were only further inflamed by sensationalist media coverage. Those who survived had a tendency to sell out, or at least relinquish what little talent they had after seeing that making albums full of honest topics did little more than hopelessly politicize those who ought not to be painted as crusaders.

I was coming of age in this period, so by the time I started consuming pop culture without filters all that seemed to be left in mainstream Hip Hop was the likes of Puff Daddy. I was prematurely turned off to the entire genre because I got sick of listening to minute-long "samples" of entire songs and seeing fish-eye lenses for music videos that looked like R-rated car commercials. In short, it was damn difficult to take rap in the mid-90's seriously.

It's no wonder, then, that I had already tuned out by the time Nelly launched his solo career. Part of St. Louis Hip Hop staple group St. Lunatics, Nelly ended up being arguably the most successful rapper of all time. There's no question that Nelly sold out. The man is a freaking multi-national corporation at this point. But that's not really the issue. I'm not a punk philosopher; if an artist still makes good art after selling out, I don't give a damn. Nelly's credibility shouldn't be called into question because he's a shrewd businessman.

According to multiple accounts, Nelly and the rest of the St. Lunatics were broke during the recording of Country Grammar. Now the album is platinum nine times over and Nelly is undoubtedly a key player in the dominance of Hip Hop this decade. But why this album at this time? It's actually pretty easy to see, or at least hear. Country Grammar is the epitome of the modern rap album, a sort of grand tour of themes and influences. If it weren't so catchy and well-produced, its calculated nature would be unbearable.

Take the first actual track of the album, "St. Louie". It follows a tone-setting but otherwise unfunny skit by Cedric The Entertainer and it's a beautifully arranged track. It hits every major, stereotypical theme: Sex, Drugs, Violence and Boasting. The engineering is nothing short of virtuosity and it's dotted with questionably effete quirks like harp samples. Country Grammar is full of such clever exhibitions of the true intelligence of its creator.

The typical rap tropes sell the album, but the real art is in self-subversion like "Wrap Sumden". It takes all of the big talk about pot and ramps it up to satirical levels, then infuses it with dark images of addiction. In its own way, this kind of substance is preferable to the "music with a message" style that so many rappers self-consciously employ so they can seem authentic. Rap is about cleverly twisting words, so bluntness ends up being unbecoming.

Nelly has cultivated his image and has done a lot to make rap a viable, long-term commodity. His albums aren't meant to change the world, but listen to them enough times and the underlying intelligence shines through the party-centered exterior. Nobody has navigated this art-turned-lifestyle better than him.